Those of
you who have read our magazine for a while have seen quite a few changes over
the years. If you have been with us long enough to go back to the Managers Report days, I might say you
have seen a lot of changes! Those changes have been in the form of both
editorial and graphic improvements. The changes have always had purpose, and
that was to deliver educational information to our readers in an attractive and
easy to use format.

There are
a couple of things that set our magazine apart from the competition. The first
of those is that we are not an advertorial magazine. By advertorial, I mean
that we don’t sell our articles to our advertisers. We are unique in that our
advertisers don’t dictate what we cover in the magazine, our readers do. That
will continue to be our approach.

The
second thing that sets us apart is our focus on people and communities. We feel
that “communities learning from communities” is the most effective way to help
board members and managers learn how to better lead their communities.

In 2008
we made what we feel was the most important improvement to the editorial content
of the magazine. With the introduction of the Florida Communities of Excellence
Awards, we began a more systematic approach to the educational content we deliver.
It really was quite simple: we just let the winning communities tell their own
stories. The categories that were chosen for the awards address the major areas
of challenge for most communities. And the feedback you
have given reinforces this direction.

We, along
with our co-sponsors Becker & Poliakoff and the Pen Group Communications,
find ourselves at an exciting time in our year. The nominations are now open
for the 2012 awards, and already we are getting a great response from
communities across Florida. So, we would like to invite you to take a minute
and go to www.communitiesofexcellence.netwhere you’ll find all the information you will need to enter your community for
these very important awards. For more information on the categories, just turn to
the center of this issue.